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A better policy making approach |
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What is a better policy making approach?
A ‘better policy making approach’ is a modernised version of the policy making process which stems from the 1999 Modernising Government White Paper. This paper led to a large scale survey to identify new, innovative and professional approaches to policy making. The findings from this study provided evidence that these new approaches result in better policy and improved delivery.
We can adapt the findings of this study to highlight the six key features that can provide us with a better approach to developing anti-bullying policies.
A good policy making approach should be:
- Bottom Up – Policy development should genuinely involve communities in all aspects of development. This isn’t a tokenistic measure, moving away from the traditional policy making structures can often lead to a more dynamic and imaginative policy development process.
- Joined Up- The process takes a holistic view; looking beyond institutional and policy boundaries with the aim of linking together as many policies and initiatives as is relevant. Anti-bullying strategies can link with ethos building, curriculum areas, ‘Journeys to Excellence’ and ‘How good is our school?’. It can also link to Equality and Diversity policies and the Inclusion Agenda. With this in mind the policy should include cross-cutting objectives, which are clearly defined at the outset; joint working arrangements with other departments clearly defined and well understood; barriers to effective joined up methods clearly identified with a strategy to overcome them; and implementation of the policy across the board being considered as part of the policy making process.
- Innovative and Creative – The modern policy making process should be flexible and innovative. This involves questioning the established way of doing things, encouraging new and creative ideas and, where appropriate, making the established ways work better. To enable this process, policy makers should encourage alternatives to the usual ways of working (rapid, informal discussion, DeBono’s 6 hats approach etc), bring in people from outwith the usual policy making structure, consciously assesses and manage risk and define success in terms of outcomes already identified.
- Inclusive – The better policy making approach takes account of the impact on everyone directly or indirectly affected by the policy and meets their needs. respectme expects that all anti-bullying policies will be Equality and Diversity Impact Assessed in order to achieve this. Key stakeholders of the policy should be directly involved and consultation should be a key feature of policy development. This includes consulting with those implementing and those receiving the policy during its development and seeking feedback on its success.
- Reviewed and Evaluated – Once a new policy is established it should be considered as a ‘living’ document which needs to be constantly reviewed in order to ensure that it is dealing with the problems it was designed to address.
To this end, an on-going review programme should be in place from the outset which includes a number of relevant performance indicators. Strategies which allow policy implementers and receivers to feedback should be in place and organisations must have the courage to scrap failing policies.
Successful review mechanisms pave the way for successful evaluation of a policy. How the policy will be evaluated and how the evaluation will then be used should be decided from the outset.
- Learns Lessons – A good policy making process should learn from past experience of what works and what does not. A learning approach to policy development allows for policy makers to learn, not just from their own experiences, but from other’s successes and failures. Information on good practice should be disseminated and shared. An important aspect of learning lessons is making a clear distinction between the failure of the policy to make the desired impact and any failures in managerial or operational issues.
respectme can assist in the process of disseminating information and sharing examples of good policy. Undertaking an Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment is a vital part of the ‘Better Policy Making Approach’. All newly developed and revised policies should embody the concepts of this impact assessment from the outset. Why? Because the current and, more importantly, the likely forthcoming legislative framework is going to expect that such impact assessments are undertaken. It makes sense therefore to build them into the policy development and review at this stage as this will produce more robust policies which will not have to be retrospectively impact assessed.
From a more ethical point of view it is right to consider where our policies may discriminate against groups or individuals. This will, in turn, lead to successful policy implementation.
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